Nahimah Ajikanle Nurudeen
Accenture Nigeria will lead discussions on the real sector of the economy at the 2016 Nigerian Economic Summit, with focus on achieving sustainable growth by promoting ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ goods and services.
This year’s Nigerian Economic Summit, the 22nd edition which kick off today, Monday 10th runs till Wednesday 12th, October, 2016 at Kano Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, FCT, Nigeria gathered policy makers, experts and stakeholders in various fields, who are expected to brainstorm and chart new directions amidst the current socio-economic realities.
Accenture Nigeria is expected to make presentations on key sectors such as manufacturing, solid minerals, transport/logistics, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, creative industries, culture, and sports (THECS).
The real sector has been identified as possessing enormous potentials to grow Nigeria’s economy and promote its Made-in-Nigeria initiative. However, this has consistently been hindered by erratic government policies and weak infrastructure across all the relevant value chains.
Country Managing Director, Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Niyi Yusuf, will chair an interactive panel discussion where Mr. Nico Vervelde; MD, Nigerian Breweries; Mr. Hassan Bello; CEO, Nigerian Shippers’ Council; Dr. Mudashir Olaitan; Director of Development Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Mrs. Peju Adebajo; MD, Geocycle and Project Management Office, Lafarge, are meant to deliberate on the enormous potentials of the real sector in achieving the socio-economic transformation of the country.
A Real Sector Policy Commission (RSPC) Champion, also of Accenture Nigeria, Mr. Bernard Orji, will deliver a background presentation on the real sector.
In clear perspective, Nigeria’s economy has been in near free–fall since the end of 2015, especially in the manufacturing sector which declined by 3.36% between 2015 and 2016.
The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are catalysts for driving growth and promoting Made-in-Nigeria goods and services require enabling policies and infrastructures to thrive. However, statistics show high attrition rate of SMEs in Nigeria, as 50 to 60 per cent of SMEs fail between 1 – 2 years of establishment.
His presentation is expected to shed light on how government’s policies and infrastructural development bring about ease of doing business for SMEs and examine how models such as Public Private Policy (PPP) can promote infrastructural development in different sectors like power, transportation etc.
The panel session on real sector also aims to highlight the role of government in plugging the identified gaps in real sector development in Nigeria.
